h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Vacuum and quantum uncertainty - A12012779
Author: Lord_Sieg - U4060553

My first entry, someone said i should put it up for Peer Review, so I did...

Hi Lord_Seig, well done on your first entry!

I tried to post this last night but I had computer problems so *crosses fingers* trying again:

First-person reference is not allowed, as per the <./>writing-guidelines</.> because it comes across as personal opinion, which also isn't allowed, so:

*snip*
<>
*snip*

would have to be edited to something like:

"However, there is no such thing as actual empty space, and this entry attempts to describe why."



As per the content of your entry, it's over my head but I'm sure there will be some physics-types along soon to give their

Cheers, and a very warm welcome to Peer Review,

Galaxy Babe
Scout

Perhaps vacuum is a relative term, describing very low pressures?

"Space it self is not acually empty anyway, due to dust particles etc., as well as dark matter and dark energy, which is practically everywhere anyway..." - itself is one word, you could go into "etc." a bit - with more details on what's there, you might also think about including a little more physics knowledge: the fact that vacuum particles are particle-antiparticle pairs, for instance.

Often the particles are bosons rather than particle-antiparticle pairs. The reason I didn't include too much in-depth physics is because I wanted to make the article accessible to a wider audience. Also note that I refer not necessarily to space, but to any vacuum, even that created under laboratory conditions etc.

You working on this still LS?

Yes, I am here, but I've grown lazy and drifted elsewhere on the interweb, as there appears to be little progress...

It's a bit short. Should probably mention the Casimir effect and Hawking radiation - there is also already an entry on the latter at A568514 that covers some of this, that could be linked to.

Researcher hasn't been back since 2 August.

Can we remove this?

The logic of the piece really deserves a re-think. You really seem to be saying that we cannot KNOW if there is a vacuum, not that there is no such thing. Certainly there is an awful lot of space and only a small, finite amount of matter and energy.

A solid becomes a liquid when the increased energetic state of the atoms (normally caused by heat) causes them to move apart and expand. If further heated, it can turn to a gaseous state where the space between the atoms is even greater. There is certainly nothing, of which we are aware, that can fill those multi-planck-sized gaps except for a vacuum or void.

Our knowledge of the internal struture of the atom also calls for 'empty' space between electron shells; another vacuum.

With all the space between stars, even with the background radiation from the original big bang, I'm betting that some of it is pure void at some time or another. Every Planck unit of space, at every Planck unit of time, cannot contain 'something' or the universe would be solid 'something' and we'd not be able to move.

As it's a theory, I'd suggest BTE.

BTE it is. Seconded. Added. Etc.

LS, I hope you continue to work on this, just remember to describe theories as theories and give great thought to what constitutes 'proof' as opposed to 'suggesting evidence'.

As an example:
Low-energy electrons fired through modified 3-slit apparatus has shown that the elecrons were deflected when there was nothing to do so, and the only explanation is the particles, with their electric charges, as predicted by quantum theory.

On face value, this sounds good, but upon critical thinking we can see that just because electons were deflected when there was nothing apparent to reflect off of is no reason to believe that every Planck unit of space in the container has 'something' in it.

And, the bit about the uncertainty principle forbidding some spot from having a 0 energy level, I don't thing the uncertainty principle will cover that. If we cannot know what the level is, so we cannot know it is not 0.

If every Planck unit of space had 'something' in it, the universe would be full! (Planck unit of space is defined as the smallest possible unit of space. Don't ask. I don't know that I buy Planck units yet.)

Not bad...

Aside: Vacuum sucks.


HELL

(What's wrong with succint entries?)